August 26 is Women’s Equality Day

Women's Equality Day commemorates the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, which guaranteed women the right to vote. Nearly a century later, has that legal right translated to equality for women?

According
to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, although
they make up more than half the country’s population, women hold only
about 20% of elected seats at federal, state, and municipal levels. As low as that percentage is, it actually represents
progress. Forty years ago, women
comprised 10% or less of elected officials.

The city of
Charlotte is a standout when it comes to female leadership. Of the 100 largest cities in the country, 23
have female mayors and, of those, only 7 are African American, including
Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles.

Of course,
women’s equality goes beyond equal representation in government. Gender parity includes not only political
empowerment but also economic opportunity, education, and health. The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently
released its Global Gender Gap
Report, which
looks at gender inequities around the globe and predicts how long it will take
to close the gaps.

For the
United States, the news is sobering. The
WEF estimates that, if current trends continue, it will take 208 years for
women in the U.S. to reach equality with men.

Here in
North Carolina, the NC Department of Administration’s new report, The Status of Women
In North Carolina, reveals the state has made some inroads. The earnings gap continues to narrow, with
women on average now earning 80.9% of men’s earnings. Equal pay in North Carolina, the report
reveals, would amount to increased earnings of $15.6 billion dollars and cut
the poverty rate for working women by more than half.

At Crisis
Assistance Ministry, about 60 percent of the more than 52,000 people served
each year are female. Ensuring that each
of them, and every woman, has an equal opportunity to thrive is an investment
in everyone’s future.

Read the
stories of a few of the resilient women served at Crisis Assistance Ministry: